Jaux Ballad has always wanted to enter the realm of magic, but could not do so by regular means. In his desperation to become a magician he finds himself with more power, and more trouble, than he could ever have imagined.

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Becoming a basic class mage came with a single great benefit: Suhara was allowed outside.

Although Suhara couldn't go out alone or anytime she wanted to, she could now sign up for trips. Public notices for field outings were posted on a board down in the first floor. Instead of heading upstairs to the library first thing in the morning, Suhara was led down to the trip notices by her three dorm mates.

The girls wanted to take Suhara out and spend some time bonding, so they looked for a group that had four open spots.

Suhara noticed an oddity, and pointed towards a clustered group of lists. "Why aren't any girls signed up for Welldrop, Sindle, or Fevalo?"

"Oh, those groups are work orientated," said Frey. "The supervising teacher always ends up sending students on scavenger hunt jobs that take up the whole day. It's good for getting a bit of cash, but it's incredibly tiring and bland."

"Boring old geezer trips, otherwise known as booger tips," said Tricks. "Plus, they have these stupid and dull uniform requirements, no one is ever happy about em. Most girls wouldn't dare be caught on one of those outings."

Desyi rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Only your ten year old maturity would name it something like that, Tricks."

Frey gestured towards a public notice for a trip to Veilflower. "How about here? This is a nice city."

"I don't think so," said Desyi, "we don't know much about Theema yet, so it might not be a good idea to get Suhara so close to the Bright Noon Priestess."

"Oh, that's where the High Priest lives?" said Suhara.

"Yep," said Tricks, "we didn't tell you about that. The Bright Noon Church is up over there."

"Like I said, we're better off staying away." Desyi examined a pink flyer located near the bottom of the board. "How about Orouna? That should be a fun first trip."

The other girls crowded around the Orouna trip notice, examining the details.

"Yeah, that sounds good." said Frey. "Two days from now, so that would be the next free day."

=+=+=

Tricks tried to contact the headmistress, but couldn't get granted a visit. Many people had to reserve a meeting with her, since she was the priestess of a knowledge goddess. What could be a better source of answers than speaking with Marlifa's High Priestess?

The four girls searched though the library for several hours, trying to find any more details on Theema. Researching the Cooleur Curahge didn't reveal any additional information. The Paladins' attack on Theema had been a single paragraph of vague descriptions.

The difficulty of finding information started to make more sense as the girls looked further into it. Theema had claimed to be the only inhabitant of Light's Cowardice. That meant she couldn't have any other priests, since there were no other spirits to bond with mortals. Even if Theema had a few followers, the Cooleur Paladins might have wiped them all out.

Suhara searched for a bit of information on her demon root wand. The wand was rare, and carved out from a curse-based mystic flora, but it wasn't unique. However, the tree that demon root wands came from were native to Curahge. It certainly seemed like Theema was being tied to that continent.

=+=+=

The girls decided to quit researching at around noon. There was only a certain amount of reading that they were willing to do at a time while still remaining sane. In order to rest, the four girls went over to some of the shops on the first floor for some lunch.

Frey noticed something unexpected while she was pulling Suhara along by the wrist. "When did you put Rales's bracelet back on, Suhara?"

"Huh?" Suhara looked down at her left wrist, and noticed the familiar black and purple.

She never put that back on, did she? Suhara stopped walking, and closely inspected the black stone and purple gems. She brushed along the bracelet with her right hand, just to confirm that it wasn't an illusion.

"Is something wrong?" Frey regarded Suhara with a bit of concern.

Desyi and Tricks stopped in their tracks as well, and turned around to see what was up.

"Uh... nothing." Suhara held her left arm towards Frey. "Could you help me take it off again? I guess I might have put it on and forgotten about it."

Frey nodded, and pulled the black bracelet off of Suhara.

Suhara held the artifact carefully, and then slipped it into a robe pocket. She would have to remember to place it in the nightstand when they got back to the dorm.

=+=+=

The rest of the day went by steadily:

Tricks restocked her snack supply, Desyi bought a new novel for light reading, Frey helped Suhara out with training, and Suhara learned three new spells.

Suhara had finally learned how to use her master level spell to disable nearby bodies, even though it didn't work on Frey when a blessing blocked it. The other two spells were standard class. One was an opaque black cloud that sustained itself by snuffing out illusions and concentrated light. The second spell increased the speed of heat transference in a given area, which had the effect of breaking down ice. Suhara had specifically learned those spells to make up for passing the promotional exam with dumb luck.

Frey cut off magic training a bit earlier today. She needed to run a few errands before curfew, so she left Suhara alone in the practice room.

At this point, Suhara was feeling a bit woozy from magic fatigue, so she couldn't continue. She packed up all of her items, and started to make her way back to the dorm.

All of a sudden, Suhara felt something land on her shoulder. She didn't get a chance to turn and look before a strange tingling could be felt in her head. Suhara's body locked up, and the creepy feeling became her entire focus. It was like a dozen tiny worms were crawling through her brain. It wasn't painful, but she was confused and frightened.

Then the tingling stopped, and Suhara was filled with the desire to head over to the research room that contained Theema's artifacts. She walked forward, losing herself to the powerful urge. Her strides became long and confident, and she took the most direct route to the research hall.

Suhara was aware of what she was doing, but at the same time there was a mental fog that blocked any clear comprehension.

Roy Intone spotted Suhara as she was marching. He immediately moved his body to block the girl's path. The boy wore a smug little grin, and his arms were both folded and flexed. He appeared as if he was going to bully her, or perhaps challenge her to another duel.

Suhara didn't wait to find out. Without missing a stride, she punched Roy into the wall, knocking him out cold.

Due to the approaching curfew, there weren't many people out in the open. The whole incident had gone unnoticed, leaving Suhara to advance without any other hinderances.

When Suhara found herself under the purple glow of the artifact room, she finally regained control of her body. A tiny bird flew off her shoulder and up towards the ceiling.

"W-what?" Suhara stumbled, catching herself on one of the glass displays.

Something gray fell down from the ceiling, landing in a heap in front of Suhara. At first it looked like a thick blanket, but then it stood up.

A tall woman towered before Suhara. She wore a cloak of feathers with various shades of white and gray. Her pale blonde hair was wild, sticking out like a bundle of weeds. There were four tiny birds nesting on her shoulders.

Suhara backed away instinctively, activating her silver anklet to cover herself in a protective blessing. "W-who are you?"

The woman didn't say a word, and instead pulled a book out from beneath her cloak. Her arms were thin, but they held the book with a tight grip.

Suhara read the title of the book:

The Bringer of Dusk: Theema

"I am Ri Lucian," said the woman. "This room is mine. This book is yours."

Suhara narrowed her eyes in suspicion, approaching the book at a slow pace. Then she cautiously took the book off of Ri's hands.

"Are you another one of Theema's weapons?" said Suhara.

"No. She knows not of me," said Ri. "I have collected. I have observed. Now I seek to discover."

Suhara felt a uncomfortable with the tall woman, so she hugged the book against her chest and began stepping back. "Discover what?"

Ri glanced down at Suhara's feet for a moment. "Discover her purpose. Discover your purpose. Discover my purpose."

"W-were you the one who gave me my staff?" said Suhara.

"Yes," said Ri.

"W-what do you know? What are you, exactly?" Suhara was approaching the door, and was considering bolting at any second.

"I know enough. I am a harpy."

The four birds flew off from the woman's shoulders. They streaked over to Suhara, and crashed into her face. The birds were able to break through the protective blessing without resistance, and together they corrupted Suhara's brain with a terribly numbing ache.

=+=+=

"Yep, the librarian got it out from some preserved archives!" Suhara smiled as she presented the old book to her roommates.

"Wow, so much for being forgotten. She's got a whole book dedicated to her!" said Tricks.

Frey felt the book's bindings, and then opened the book up to a random page. "It's really well preserved for something that's supposed to be centuries old. Are you sure it's legitimate?"

"I think so, there were a bunch of weird enchantments that the librarian had to break before the book could be opened." said Suhara.

"Let's get reading then!" Desyi took the book out of Frey's hands, turning it to the first page.

There was a small introduction, which Desyi read aloud.

The Goddess of Coming Dusk, Theema, is the guardian and surrogate mother of what dwells in night. She is alone in her immortal realm, so she seeks out a priest in the mortal world that will allow her to interact with other mortal entities. Theema protects the innocent creatures of the night. To help protect the nights, she also forcibly takes control of monstrous priests such as vampires. This deity is largely unknown to most of the world due to her lack of spirits and priests. However, her deeds do earn her a few devoted followers.

"See? I told you she wasn't evil!" said Desyi.

"No way that the book says that, it is way too convenient!" Tricks grabbed the book, and silently reread the introduction. "No, wait... shit. It does."

"That is still a bit suspicious," said Frey. "It answers all of our questions in the first page..."

"It still didn't say anything about Suhara's arm, or about Broken Space and Bright Noon." said Desyi.

"Almost all our questions. You know what I mean." said Frey.

The girls spent a large portion of the night going through the book, which was filled with simple tales about how Theema protected someone or something. All the short stories were rather repetitive over time, but they painted an idea of a good natured goddess.

"I guess Theema's not too bad," Frey yawned. "I'll take the book back to the librarian tomorrow to make sure that it's all factual, and if so we won't have to worry about Suhara interacting with Theema."

All the girls said their goodnights, and went off to their beds.

Birds flew out from Suhara's robe when all the girls were asleep. They flew through the wardrobe cabinet doors like it was made of air, and circled the room once between phasing into the walls.

The tiny bird imps visited one of the sleeping librarians, infecting her mind while she dreamed.

After that, the four imps returned to the harpy.

"That's three memories, now." Ri gently petted the four bird imps with her bony fingers. "We must reserve the last as our insurance..."